Slashiness
First of all, an item of news that might be of interest, for those of you that follow the war in Iraq.
Second of all, yesterday I bought myself a Cybertron Sideways. He is a studmuffin, by the way. However, the real item of interest was the DVD that came with him. I didn't even realize I got a DVD until I opened the package. It had the Cybertron episode "Hidden" on it. This episode, among other things, gave me some seriously weird vibes between Jetfire and Thundercracker.
I, naturally, questioned Pepper about them. As in, "are they really as slashy as I think they are?". Just as naturally, asking a triadmate from the Slash Team about something's relative slashiness... Well, let's just say that we agreed that there was something going down there.
The thought processes from that to the following fragment are a bit tricky.
---
He remembered....
Two years after his disasterous first encounter with Thundercracker, they were screaming through the atmosphere of another alien planet. Belly-to-belly, him keeping up with every little acrobatic trick the punk had. Sure, it was hell on his systems and Red Alert would lecture him later, but he'd live. He couldn't say the same for the natives if he didn't chase Thundercracker off.
"Yee-haw!" Thundercracker performed a complicated looping corkscrew of a roll, and Jetfire strained to keep up.
His thrusters and both his outer engines finally gave up the ghost at this maneuver, failing with an unusual lack of a spectacular explosion. He hastily transformed as he plummetted towards the ground. It wouldn't exactly help much, but just tearing up his leg plating would go over better than tearing out his belly.
Smashing through the forest canopy went better than he expect. Most of the trees just splintered under him rather than stabbing through his armor like a backwards kinetic-energy weapon. Still felt like he was being flogged, though. When he finally hit ground, he allowed himself the luxury of a nanoclick to sit and groan before scanning for Thundercracker.
The Decepticon, surprisingly enough, had followed him down. Thundercracker hovered a little above the rent in the forest canopy, looking rather puzzled. "What did you go and do that for?"
Jetfire flashed a blink. "Wha?"
"You already damaged your thrusters two-an-a-half kloms back. Why'd you keep stressin' 'em by trying to follow me exactly?"
Jetfire just stared at the smaller jet. Thank Primus he didn't have much in the way of a face - his jaw would be hanging open if it wasn't melded with the rest of his head.
Thundercracker's wings twitched nervously. "What? I ain't no hotshot tactician like you, Jets, but even I know how to fly! Sure as shooting, no transformer with your tonnage has the kind of components that can take the punishment of a-" He paused and pressed his lips together, obviously trying to think of the word. "Ya can't follow me too long when I get acrobatic."
Jetfire continued to stare. Primus, he thought. I live in this shell, I know what kind of stress I was putting myself under, and I still thought I could keep up. He wasn't doing anything that I haven't done before.
- Except I never piled all those tricks on one after another, going at almost exit speed.
And now he was on the ground, and it looked like he'd have to walk out of this jungle while Thundercracker could freely fly around. Not a good situation, and he'd only have one shot to change it in.
... He'd only half-made the shot, Jetfire remembered. He'd reduced Thundercracker to a limping flight, but the Decepticon could still fly and he had had a full complement of missiles still. The other Autobots had prevented him from doing too much damage, fortunately.
Second of all, yesterday I bought myself a Cybertron Sideways. He is a studmuffin, by the way. However, the real item of interest was the DVD that came with him. I didn't even realize I got a DVD until I opened the package. It had the Cybertron episode "Hidden" on it. This episode, among other things, gave me some seriously weird vibes between Jetfire and Thundercracker.
I, naturally, questioned Pepper about them. As in, "are they really as slashy as I think they are?". Just as naturally, asking a triadmate from the Slash Team about something's relative slashiness... Well, let's just say that we agreed that there was something going down there.
The thought processes from that to the following fragment are a bit tricky.
---
He remembered....
Two years after his disasterous first encounter with Thundercracker, they were screaming through the atmosphere of another alien planet. Belly-to-belly, him keeping up with every little acrobatic trick the punk had. Sure, it was hell on his systems and Red Alert would lecture him later, but he'd live. He couldn't say the same for the natives if he didn't chase Thundercracker off.
"Yee-haw!" Thundercracker performed a complicated looping corkscrew of a roll, and Jetfire strained to keep up.
His thrusters and both his outer engines finally gave up the ghost at this maneuver, failing with an unusual lack of a spectacular explosion. He hastily transformed as he plummetted towards the ground. It wouldn't exactly help much, but just tearing up his leg plating would go over better than tearing out his belly.
Smashing through the forest canopy went better than he expect. Most of the trees just splintered under him rather than stabbing through his armor like a backwards kinetic-energy weapon. Still felt like he was being flogged, though. When he finally hit ground, he allowed himself the luxury of a nanoclick to sit and groan before scanning for Thundercracker.
The Decepticon, surprisingly enough, had followed him down. Thundercracker hovered a little above the rent in the forest canopy, looking rather puzzled. "What did you go and do that for?"
Jetfire flashed a blink. "Wha?"
"You already damaged your thrusters two-an-a-half kloms back. Why'd you keep stressin' 'em by trying to follow me exactly?"
Jetfire just stared at the smaller jet. Thank Primus he didn't have much in the way of a face - his jaw would be hanging open if it wasn't melded with the rest of his head.
Thundercracker's wings twitched nervously. "What? I ain't no hotshot tactician like you, Jets, but even I know how to fly! Sure as shooting, no transformer with your tonnage has the kind of components that can take the punishment of a-" He paused and pressed his lips together, obviously trying to think of the word. "Ya can't follow me too long when I get acrobatic."
Jetfire continued to stare. Primus, he thought. I live in this shell, I know what kind of stress I was putting myself under, and I still thought I could keep up. He wasn't doing anything that I haven't done before.
- Except I never piled all those tricks on one after another, going at almost exit speed.
And now he was on the ground, and it looked like he'd have to walk out of this jungle while Thundercracker could freely fly around. Not a good situation, and he'd only have one shot to change it in.
... He'd only half-made the shot, Jetfire remembered. He'd reduced Thundercracker to a limping flight, but the Decepticon could still fly and he had had a full complement of missiles still. The other Autobots had prevented him from doing too much damage, fortunately.